1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device and an image processing method for processing a three-dimensional image formed by a plurality of tomographic images obtained by tomographic imaging of a subject, as well as a program for causing a computer to carry out the image processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of medical images, imaging diagnosis using a three-dimensional image of a subject taken with a modality, such as an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus, has begun to be conducted. In this case, doctors request a pathological examination department or an endoscopic examination department to conduct an examination, such as pathological examination or endoscopic examination, as necessary, and conduct definitive diagnosis based on the three-dimensional image and the result of examination, such as pathological examination or endoscopic examination. Further, a person in charge of the examination, such as pathological examination or endoscopic examination, may generate and check examination information of a patient with referencing the three-dimensional image of the same patient.
However, in general, the three-dimensional images are managed separately from the examination results obtained by the pathological examination department or the endoscopic examination department. Therefore, in order to conduct the definitive diagnosis, the doctors have to search and obtain the presence or absence of pathological examination information or endoscopic examination information of the patient and the result of each examination, respectively, and the person in charge of the examination, such as pathological examination or endoscopic examination, has to search and obtain the three-dimensional image of the patient. Therefore, there is a demand for a technique for reducing time and labor needed to obtain such related examination information.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20100303330 (hereinafter, “Patent Document 1”) has proposed an approach wherein a position of a pathological examination is associated and stored with a radiographic image (human body image), such as a CT or MRI image, in advance, and when the human body image is displayed on a monitor device, a marker indicating the position of the pathological examination, which has been stored with being associated with the human body image, is displayed at a corresponding position on the radiographic image displayed on the monitor device, and information (such as a pathological image or a pathological report) about the pathological examination of a tissue collected from the position of the pathological examination is displayed simultaneously with the human body image.
However, the method proposed in Patent Document 1 requires an operation to associate and store the position of the pathological examination with the radiographic image. Therefore, there is a demand for a more simple approach to checking the presence or absence of the pathological examination corresponding to the radiographic image without requiring this process.